Early Australian Silversmiths

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ROSENTHAL, ARONSON & Co.

15, Little Collins Street West, Melboune


D. Rosenthal & Co. - Melbourne - 1877


Rosenthal, Aronson & Co. - Melbourne - 1881


This business of general importers and manufacturers of jewellery is one of the oldest houses, in Victoria. The originator of the now prosperous firm, Mr. David Rosenthal, the present senior partner, came to Melbourne in 1852. with Mr. H. Feldheim as a partner, and after two years had elapsed, Mr. A. Berens became associated in the partnership. Business greatly increasing, the firm was further strengthened by the accession of Mr. Saul Aronson, now the resident partner in the London house at 28 Camomile street, E.C. In 1878 Mr. George Alfred Aronson was added to the partnership, and in 1886 he opened on behalf of the firm a branch house at Brisbane, Queensland. The firm has also a branch at Launceston, Tasmania. Originally beginning operations in a small building in Elizabeth street, in which three firms were located, they have removed the seat of business successively to Flinders-lane, Little Collins street west (the present site of Mr. George Robertson's publishing establishment), Russell street, No. 1 Little Collins street, and finally No. 15 Little Collins street west, where Messrs. Rosenthal, Aronson and Co. purchased and occupy their present extensive premises, and where, in addition to general importing, a very large business is done in the manufacture of jewellery. Operations in this industry have expanded so much that it has been found necessary to add largely to the original building, and a four-story bluestone building has been erected to supersede the iron store where the crockery business was formerly conducted. The warehouse has a frontage of 25 ft. to Little Collins street, and a depth of 250 ft., a varied stock of hardware, tobacconists' goods, watches (Rotherham and others), musical instruments, crockery, glassware, Sec, being kept on the four flats. Adjoining the warehouse is the jewellery manufactory, a large bluestone building four stories high. At one time 100 hands were here employed in the manufacture of jewellery. As many as 5000 brooches have been turned out from this department, a fact which indicates the success that has attended the efforts of the firm to place this industry on a solid and prosperous basis.

Source: Victoria and its metropolis, Past and Present - Alexander Sutherland - 1888

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J.G. MATTHEWS

Gilbert Street, Latrobe, Tasmania


J G Matthews - Latrobe - 1881

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ALFRED FLACK

Corner of York and Barrack Streets, Sydney


Alfred Flack - Sydney - 1867


Alfred Flack - Sydney - 1878

As can be seen from these advertisements, Alfred Flack was a Die Sinker and Engraver who made dies for the spoonmakers and was perhaps responsible for the manufacture of the punches used by many of the Sydney silversmiths.

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BLOCK BROTHERS

Hamilton, Ararat, and Warrnambool

Block Bros., Hamilton. This firm consists of the four brothers, H, JW, L, and C. Block, manufacturing and retail jewellers, watchmakers, and silversmiths. Besides the establishment in Hamilton, they have handsomely-stocked places of business in Ararat and Warrnambool, at which latter place they carry on manufacturing in conjunction with the shop. They make a specialty of a grade of watch, for which they have received orders from the Government.

Source: Victoria and its metropolis, Past and Present - Alexander Sutherland - 1888

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WILLIAM EMBLEY

Barker Street, Castlemaine



William Embley, Watchmaker and Jeweller, Crockery Arcade, Fancy Goods Emporium, Piano and Music Warehouse, Barker Street, Castlemaine. This well-known and extensive business was established in 1886 by Mr Embley, who was born at Forest Creek in the year 1864, and is the brother of Dr Embley, of Melbourne. He was educated at Forest Creek, and at the age of fifteen was apprenticed to the watchmaking and jewellery business in the establishment of J. M. Cox and Son, Melbourne, for a term of five years. On the completion of his indentures, Mr. Embley returned to Castlemaine in 1884, and travelled throughout the various country districts before settling down in business on his own account. He opened in a small way as watchmaker and jeweller in Barker Street, Castlemaine. Success attended his efforts, and in 1889 he was enabled to launch out on a larger scale, and added the business of a music and piano warehouse to that of watchmaker and jeweller. He secured larger premises next his own. and stocked them with pianos, organs, musical instruments, sheet music, and stationery. In 1894 he added the crockery business, and the latter increased to such an extent that, to cope with the rapidly extending trade, he was compelled in 1897 to build the present arcade which is situated at the rear of his two shops, with a frontage to Barker Street of 13 feet 4 inches leading down and opening into the showroom, the latter being 40 feet by 10 feet, well lighted by a large skylight. The arcade is stocked with every conceivable article in the way of crockery, ornaments, electroplated goods, cutlery, and glassware of every description. Adjoining is a room 40 by 25 feet, literally packed with all kinds of toys, fancy goods, etc. The bulk and packing store covers an area of 40 feet by 30, and a special room is set apart for watchmaking, jewellery repairing, etc. The music shop also contains stationery, periodicals, school books and utensils, cricket sets, and materials for all other games, the whole forming one of the most up-to-date businesses outside Melbourne. Mr. Embley is a member of the A.N.A., is an ardent supporter of cricket and all athletic sports of an out-door character, and is altogether, both in business and private life, a most enterprising and popular citizen. He is largely interested in the mining industry, and is both an investor and owner of mines. Mr. Embley's private residence is at Forest Creek.

Source: Victoria and its metropolis, Past and Present - Alexander Sutherland - 1888

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H. THICTHENER

142, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Reid Street, North Fitzroy


H. Thicthener - Fitzroy - 1881

Noted at 142 (152?) Brunswick Street, Fitzroy 1872-1885, Reid Street, North Fitzroy, 1886-1887.

Perhaps to be identified with Thicthener & Solomon, 231, Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, who appear in trade directories in 1894.

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HENRY DENNY GANT

Geelong

Applications for Patents and Inventions



Source: The Mining Record - May 1864

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X. GASSER

42, Main Road, Ballarat


X. Gasser - Ballarat - 1865

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S. ABRAHAM

46, Bridge Street, Ballarat


S. Abraham - Ballarat - 1865

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A. SCOTT

72, Bridge Street, Ballarat


A. Scott - Ballarat - 1865

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PHILIP MITCHELL

304, Hunter Street, later, 310, George Street, Sydney



P. Mitchell - Sydney - 1881



P. Mitchell - Sydney - 1898

Philip Mitchell was also noted as being located at 318, George Street, Sydney. He appears in trade directories during the period 1876-1883.

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MARK LEVINSON

Sturt Street, Ballarat, and Bridge Street, Ballarat East

Levinson, Mark, Ballarat, is one of the leading jewellers of the Golden City, and old residents of Ballarat will remember the jeweller's shop of Mr H. Levinson, opened in 1854, in a tent on the Main-road, from which the present extensive business has grown. The original proprietor carried it on until 1872, when his brother, Mr. M. Levinson, purchased the business, and has since been sole owner. Mr. M. Levinson came to Australia from England in 1863, Prior to that he had served several years' apprenticeship to the watchmaking trade, and after his arrival was for three years with R. Robertson and Son, prominent manufacturing jewellers of Melbourne, and was also for several years with Feldheim, Jacobs and Co., wholesale importers, so that before going into business on his own account he had received a thorough training in every branch of the watchmaker's, jeweller's, and optician's trades. Besides the principal establishment in Sturt-street, Mr. Levinson, ten years ago, opened a branch house in Bridge-street, Ballarat East, and keeps an extensive and varied stock at both places.

Source: Victoria and its Metropolis, Past and Present - Alexander Sutherland - 1888

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JOSEPH THOMAS SLEEP

7, Lydiard Street, Ballarat


J T Sleep - Ballarat - 1869

Joseph Sleep was born in 1837. He arrived in Victoria in 1856 and is thought to have some time in partnership with a Mr Gerrard. He was recorded in trade directories as being in located at 7, Collins Street West, Melbourne, in 1884, and at 365, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, during the period 1888-1895.

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JOHN PHILIP ABRAHAM

Ballarat



Source: The Mining Record - 12th September 1865

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WILLIAM GROTH

Freemantle



Source: The Government Gazette of Western Australia - 19th June 1903

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J. HARRIS

125, Queen Street, Brisbane


J. Harris - Brisbane - 1884

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SAMUEL EDWARD BOLDNER

Daylesford, Victoria



Source: The Commissioners of Patents Journal - 11th September 1874

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JAMES WALTER ROBERT LINTON
JAMES ALEXANDER BARROW LINTON

Perth

James Walter Robert Linton (1869-1947) and James Alexander Barrow Linton (1904-1980), artists, were father and son. James Walter Robert was born on 14 June 1869 in London, second of eleven children of Sir James Dromgole Linton and his wife Harriet Maria, née Allen. Sir James was an academic watercolourist who fought for the recognition of British art and for watercolour as a medium. The young James was educated in the more adventurous British art schools: under Alphonse Legros at the Slade School of Fine Art in 1885-88; and, later, with Frederick Brown at the Westminster School. In both he learned the importance of drawing and to develop his powers of observation and visual memory. He was briefly articled to the architects Batterbury & Huxley; however his only known architectural work is the Leake memorial fountain in King's Park, Perth (1904).

In 1896 Linton's father sent him to investigate a disappointing investment in the Miner's Dream Gold Mines near Coolgardie, Western Australia. Linton established himself as a merchant in Perth and about 1899 opened the Linton School of Art. On 26 April 1902, at St George's Cathedral, he married a former pupil Charlotte Bates Barrow; they had two sons and a daughter.

That year Linton became art master at Perth Technical School. His infectious enthusiasm influenced casual and serious students alike, and a few achieved recognition in a variety of fields including his son Jamie, Kathleen O'Connor, Hal Missingham and Leslie Rees. Linton emphasized drawing, observation, and the value of construction and introduced to Perth a serious, professional approach to art.

His first commission for craftwork had come in 1901 when he designed a casket to be presented to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York during their visit to Western Australia. Like much of Linton's later woodwork, it was of local timbers and embellished with carved motifs based on local flora and fauna. In England in 1907-08 he studied metalwork under Harold Stabler. In 1910 the silversmith Arthur Cross joined him in a partnership and they held two joint exhibitions, in 1910 and 1913, before Cross's death in 1917. From 1921 Linton's partner was his elder son James who was born on 15 May 1904 in Perth. Following studies with his father and work with him as a silversmith, Jamie went in 1925 to attend the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and the Académie Julian in Paris. On his return two years later he worked with his father and their silverware became well known. Often in an Art Nouveau style, it employed abstract twists and interlacings of wire with Western Australian motifs. Linton's work was more abstract than his son's; Jamie's was more representational and sculptural. Linton enjoyed experimenting with his materials, the object's utility taking second place to its artistry; while Jamie, a full-time silversmith, was more alert to function and new technologies.

For fourteen years from 1922 Linton was a trustee of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia. On his retirement from the technical school in 1931, he continued to teach at the Linton Institute of Art until 1938. He moved to Parkerville with a former student Betsey Currie (who changed her name to Linton by deed poll) and lived and worked there until his death.

Linton's watercolours and late oils are among his finest achievements. He depicted Nature through light and was fascinated by skies, the subtle nuances of atmospheric effects and their reflections on the landscape. His family holds a self-portrait.

A small, compact man with a trim Vandyke beard, Linton dressed well with a large, black, silk bow-tie. He was equable and good humoured, quietly spoken but able to hold attention with his stories. He never lowered his standards, although he was patient and persuasive and never denigrated the work of even the dullest student.

Survived by his wife, children and Betsey, Linton died on 29 August 1947 in Perth, and was cremated with Anglican rites. His work is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the National Gallery of Australia, State and regional galleries and many private collections. Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1955 and 1977.

Jamie was busy as a silversmith until his death in Perth on 9 May 1980. His wife Marguerite, née Stubbs, whom he had married on 15 December 1934, and five children, including John, also a silversmith, survived him. His silverware is owned by the Queen Mother, the Danish royal family, and the Australian government, and is held in many public and private collections.

Source: Gray, Anne, 'Linton, James Alexander Barrow (1904—1980)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/linton- ... /text12459" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; accessed 13 February 2012.














Early work from the Linton workshops was marked J.W.R.L. and A.C. (James Walter Robert Linton and Arthur Cross) and the mark of the gumnut.

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TIMOTHY TILLSTON JONES

330, George Street, Sydney

Timothy Jones arrived in Sydney in 1853. He shared a partnership with John Walker (see earlier post) during the years 1858-1862, following that he is recorded alone and be located at 330, George Street, Sydney in 1876. He was joined by his son, Frederick in 1876, the firm being restyled T.T. Jones & Son, and noted as being located at 316, George Street, Sydney. This business survived until 1917.

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HUFTON, SHAW & Co.

26, Little Collins Street East, Melbourne, and 96, Pitt Street, Sydney


Hufton, Shaw & Co. - Melbourne and Sydney - 1877


1877

Joseph Hufton and Charles Shaw were fined on the 9th December 1875 for fraudulent evasion of customs duties. The fine was £1797-19s-4d plus the amount that they attempted to evade, £898-19s-8d. They appeared to survive this blow as they were still noted in trade directories up until 1879.

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